|
news
Center launches
careers
By Tom Carey
On-line Forty-Niner
Many Cal State
Long Beach students don't know what they want to do after
graduation. The Career Development Center is available to
help students plan their futures with valuable internships
in a number of fields.
According to Robin
Lee, coordinator of the co-op education program, students
can earn elective units during their internships from several
different courses. Three-unit classes are available that meet
five times a semester with one essay assignment due. A learning
contract is made to ensure the student's job is not just making
coffee or filing papers.
"Right now
is a good time for students who are looking for internships,"
Lee said. "It is a good opportunity to see if you like
that field or not."
Senior Josh Burns,
an English literature major, turned a summer internship into
a full-time job. Burns put his English skills to good use
working as an editorial assistant at Person Watercraft Illustrated
and as a copy editor for Happy Magazine.
As the editorial
assistant, he began as the grunt, performing the dirty work
while learning the ropes.
"I started
off writing press releases for new products and filling in
calendars. Just real basic stuff," Burns said.
The editorial assistant
internship also had its perks, Burns said. He was able to
test-run new wave runners and boats in the open ocean and
places like Lake Havasu. Not knowing much about wave runners
or jet skis, Burns was literally tossed right in the water
to test the new wave runners for consumers.
"The third
time I was ever on a wave runner we raced to Catalina,"
Burns said. "With swells running at 10-second intervals,
there was a lot of room for crashes. I got tossed over murky
water in the middle of the ocean. It was creepy. You start
hitting bumps and it feels like you are on a motorcycle. You're
sore in places you never thought you had muscles."
As time went on
Burns began to take on more responsibilities at the magazines
and got paid while he was learning.
As a copy editor
for Happy Magazine, Burns proofreads stories and edits them
before the final print. He also writes articles for Happy
when he's not proofreading them. Burns said he was also lucky
enough to cover the U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach,
a major surf contest in the United States.
Willie Marshall,
editor at Happy Magazine, recalled the grammatical errors
that were showing up in the magazine.
"A couple
of people were getting on our case about misspelled words,"
Marshall said. "So we hired Josh knowing his background
in English literature would solve the problem."
Burns said he hopes
to continue his success in the magazine business and eventually
move up to an editor position at Personal Watercraft Illustrated.
Individual counseling
appointments are available in the Career Development Center
and drop-in counseling hours are also available Monday through
Thursday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday 9 a.m. to noon.
|
